Thank you, Madam Chair.
I would like to thank the committee members for inviting Carrefour pour Elle to take part in this study you have begun.
First, I should tell you that Carrefour pour Elle is the first shelter for women and children victims of spousal violence to open its doors in Quebec. We opened our doors 40 years ago this year. So we are starting to have solid expertise in prevention and in helping women and children.
Of course, like most shelters, we provide a lot of internal services. We have a telephone support service available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We can also provide lodging for 10 women and 10 to 15 children at a time. We do follow-up, intervention and accompaniment. In the last 15 years, we have greatly increased our external and public awareness services.
PACIFIX is one of our external family and conjugal violence prevention services programs, and it is currently funded through a federal grant under the Community Action Program for Children.
The PACIFIX program has won numerous awards for its original approach to prevention and the assistance provided to children victims of family violence. It also aims to improve parenting skills and help parents overcome the various relationship difficulties they have with their children. The unique thing about this intervention is that it can be done by men and women. Close follow-up is also done with families, which means that support workers visit the homes and lodgings to work with children and parents.
Our organization developed an awareness program in 2012 called “when we love, we love equally". We provide this program in partnership with another shelter, the Pavillon Marguerite de Champlain in Saint-Hubert, and with the Greater Longueuil police force.
This program is offered mainly in French classes taken by newcomers to Quebec. These people are generally men and women who have been in Longueuil for less than a year. The goal of the program is prevention and to tell these people about services and resources, but also to build a relationship of trust with them.
The police who work with our support workers can talk about the services they provide and explain the legal process. We talk about the services we provide. Our goal is to defend the rights of the women we meet, and it works. We meet 700 people every year. Many of the women we meet ask for help, which we see as a success.
When it comes to prevention, we count a lot on young people. We have a big presence in the high schools, and we provide various programs to youths. We have created a workshop for younger kids in secondary 2 and 3 called “What relationship do you want?” We talk to them about healthy and equal romantic relationships. Before talking about violence, they need to be shown that there are other healthy, respectful, communication-based models.
As they get older, we provide young people with a new tool called “24 heures texto” that addresses cyberbullying and sexting. We teach them about harassment with a video, followed by an in-class workshop. This helps the young people understand how control, harassment and jealousy work with Facebook, smart phones and so on.
We are organizing an innovative activity that will take place in Quebec in fall 2015 called “les couloirs de la violence amoureuse”. Imagine a huge labyrinth measuring 20 feet by 30 feet. Small groups of three or four students will follow a path and experience a relationship and dynamic of dating violence. The goal is to have them understand the various forms of violence, and the consequences that attacks can have on the victims and the people who commit them.
These are good prevention models that work.
Of course, given Carrefour pour Elle's financial means and human resources, we can't cover our entire area because it is huge. So I would like to recommend that the committee think about increasing funding so that we can provide more projects and connect with more people.
We also realize that there are plenty of small, subtle ways to raise awareness. I have given each of you small pens. They are in the folders. We give training to hair dressers and estheticians to talk to them about violence so that they can give out a small pen when they think they've met a woman who has been a victim. Telephone numbers for shelters in various areas are printed on them.
Furthermore, we will hand out reusable bags to raise awareness with the general population as part of the 12-day campaign to end violence against women, which we carry out with the Fédération des maisons d'hébergement pour femmes. We can give them out in grocery stores, pharmacies and so on.
Of course, we have also had white ribbon and white rose campaigns, and they work very well. Obviously, we work with our available resources.
To conclude, I would like to say that some things relating to our social and family policies need to be improved in order to truly help prevent violence and break that circle. In Longueuil, our organizations are seeing more and more female immigrants and newcomers arrive at our door. They are being oppressed in various ways and aren't just victims of spousal violence. Sometimes they are victims of discrimination because they are visible minorities. They are often in vulnerable or poverty-stricken situations. So we need a global approach to help them so that they can report these actions and escape from violence. It is important to consider the socio-economic conditions of women and the multiple oppressions they may experience on a day-to-day basis. Beyond the existing resources, it is important to help them financially so that they can improve their socio-economic living conditions.
There are some very good connections to be made with your other study on the economic prosperity of women. I think the two overlap.
With respect to immigration, we have also noted that it is very difficult for women who are being sponsored—meaning women who have conditional permanent resident status—to report the fact that they are victims of violence because the burden of proof is on them. They must show that they are victims. A lot of mixed messages are being given. People say they have to wait one year or two before reporting the situation, otherwise they risk being deported from Canada. This keeps them in vulnerable situations.
I think that the current government needs to send a message of protection to these women so that they can get out of a dynamic of spousal violence and turn to the right resources. We are sending messages to that effect. We also note that there are very few lawyers in Montreal and Longueuil who specialize in immigration and can help these victims.
If I had a little more time, I would mention other good initiatives.
In Quebec, there is the Association québécoise Plaidoyer-Victimes. This association has created a very good outreach guide to explain the process for victims through the justice system. It's available on their website in French and English. It's worth taking a look at. These are some very good tools that we can use when we intervene to help, explain, reach out and provide all this information to victims.
I'll stop there. I imagine I've used almost my entire 10 minutes.